Method for displaying an icon and terminal device thereof

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure discloses a method for displaying an icon in a terminal device and the terminal device thereof. The method includes monitoring an implementation of an event which controls a display of the icon; determining animation display parameters according to properties of the icon, if the implementation of the event which controls the display of the icon is detected; and controlling the icon to be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with the animation display parameters. The present disclosure provides more enriched display effects of the icon.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation-In-Part of InternationalApplication No. PCT/CN2013/085927 filed on Oct. 25, 2013, which is basedupon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No.201310146121.2 filed on Apr. 24, 2013, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to computer technology field,and more particularly, to a method for displaying an icon in a terminaldevice and the terminal device thereof.

BACKGROUND

Currently, with the development of application technology, various kindsof applications have emerged, and users may install these applicationson a terminal device. After the applications are successfully installed,icons corresponding to the applications are displayed on an interface ofan operating system of the terminal device, and the users may run theapplications by clicking or double clicking the corresponding iconsassociated with the applications.

In general, the icons are motionless on the interface of the operatingsystem. Even though some icons may display simple animations withinitself, for example, a videotape may be scrolling in an icon, or afour-leaf clover may be gently swinging in an icon, the icon itself isstill remains motionless. It can be seen that the display effects oficons are relatively simple.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and a terminaldevice for displaying an icon, thereby enriching the display effects ofthe icon.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda method for displaying an icon in a terminal device, and the methodincludes: monitoring an implementation of an event which controls adisplay of the icon; determining animation display parameters accordingto properties of the icon, if the implementation of the event whichcontrols the display of the icon is detected; and controlling the iconto be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with the animationdisplay parameters.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a terminal device, and the terminal device includes: aprocessor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by theprocessor, wherein the processor is configured to execute the followingsteps: monitoring an implementation of an event which controls a displayof the icon; determining animation display parameters according toproperties of the icon, if the implementation of the event whichcontrols the display of the icon is detected; and controlling the iconto be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with the animationdisplay parameters.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereininstructions that, when executed by a processor of a terminal device,causes the device to perform the following steps: monitoring animplementation of an event which controls a display of the icon;determining animation display parameters according to properties of theicon, if the implementation of the event which controls the display ofthe icon is detected; and controlling the icon to be displayed in anmanner in accordance with the animation display parameters.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the presentdisclosure include the following advantages.

Through monitoring an implementation of an event which controls adisplay of an icon, animation display parameters are determinedaccording to properties of the icon if the implementation of the eventwhich controls the display of the icon is detected, and the icon iscontrolled to be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with thedetermined animation display parameters, thereby providing more enricheddisplay effects of the icon.

It should be understood that both the above general description and thefollowing detailed description are for illustrative purpose, rather thanto limit the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order for the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure to become more apparent, a simple introduction of theaccompanying drawings describing the embodiments will be given below.Obviously, the accompanying drawings only illustrate some embodiments ofthe present disclosure, and for those skilled in the art, other drawingsmay be obtained accordingly without any inventive effort.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative flowchart showing a method for displaying anicon in a terminal device according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative flowchart showing a method for displaying anicon in a terminal device according to the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative flowchart showing a method for displaying anicon in a terminal device according to the third embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram showing an apparatus for displaying anicon in a terminal device according to the forth embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated bythe above-mentioned drawings, and detailed descriptions will be givenhereinafter. These drawings and literal descriptions do not intend tolimit the scope and concept of the present disclosure in any manner, butto explain the concept of the present disclosure to those skilled in theart by referring to the exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make purposes, technical solutions and advantages of thepresent disclosure more apparent, hereinafter, the embodiments of thepresent disclosure will be further described in detail in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

In the following paragraphs, methods and terminal devices for displayingan icon according to embodiments of the present disclosure will beelaborated. In practical applications, the methods may be implemented ina terminal device such as mobile phones, computers, digital broadcastterminals, messaging devices, gaming consoles, tablets, medical devices,exercise equipment, personal digital assistants, and the like.

The terminal device is an electronic device and includes one or moreprocessors to receive various data, programs and instructions, and toprocess such data, programs and instructions accordingly. The terminaldevice also includes a memory which is coupled to the one or moreprocessors and is configured to store the data, programs andinstructions to be processed by the processors. Furthermore, theterminal device may further include input modules, such as a touchscreen, a keyboard, a mouse or the like. These are not described indetails as they would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

The terminal device may be provided with an operating system toimplement data or instruction processing. The operating system mayfurther include a user interface where interaction between a user andthe terminal device occurs. The user interface allows the user tomanipulate the operating system of the terminal device via user inputs,and allows the operating system to indicate the effects or reactions ofthe user's manipulation. Generally, the user interface may be agraphical interface where functional components such as menus, icons ofapplication programs or navigation bars may be disposed. The term “icon”used herein refers to a shortcut or visual representation of theapplication program or data document in the user interface of theterminal device.

The first embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method fordisplaying an icon in the terminal device as shown in FIG. 1.

It should be specified that, in the embodiment of the presentdisclosure, properties are preset for each icon, and the properties maybe properties that are set by a user, or set by the terminal deviceaccording to preset rules. In general, the operating system of theterminal device has allocated an identifier of icon for each icon, forexample, a name of icon for each icon. Therefore, the properties of theicon will be associated with the identifier of the icon, andcorresponding nexuses between the properties of the icon and theidentifier of the icon are saved, such that the properties correspondingto the icon are searched according to the preset nexuses when an event,which controls the display of the icon, is triggered.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user may set theproperties of the icon in a manner described below.

When the user installs a new application, a setup dialog box for the newapplication pops up in the case where the new application issuccessfully installed and the icon corresponding to the new applicationis added on a user interface of the terminal device. The setup dialogbox contains at least one alternative properties, from which the usermay choose the properties according to his/her own preference in thesetup dialog box, and the selected properties will become the propertiesof the icon.

In addition, after the user clicks the icon and starts the operation ofthe application corresponding to the icon, the user may selectproperties of the icon in a setup menu of the application, whichcontains at least one alternative properties, and the selectedproperties will become the properties of the icon representing theapplication.

Alternatively, the properties of the icon may be set by the terminaldevice according to preset rules. In an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a manner for setting properties of the icon by the terminaldevice according to preset rules is as follows.

When the user installs the application corresponding to the icon, theterminal device extracts related information of the applicationcorresponding to the icon, and sets predefined properties of the icon inaccordance with setting rules, wherein the related information mayinclude contents such as a name of the application corresponding to theicon, a category of the application corresponding to the icon,application information integrated within the icon, and etc.

Furthermore, the properties either set by the user or automatically setby the terminal device may include textual contents or numeral contents,or a combination of textual contents and numeral contents.

In some embodiments, the properties may include textual contents. Forexample, the user may set a category of the properties of theapplication to be “character”, and corresponding properties are“lively”, “calm” or the like. Further, a display effect of the iconcorresponding to a “lively” property is that the icon quickly bounces;when an event which controls the display of the icon is triggered,animation display parameters corresponding to the icon are searchedaccording to the property and the identifier of the icon, and the iconis controlled to be displayed in an animated manner in accordance withthe animation display parameters. A display effect of the iconcorresponding to a “calm” property is that the icon slowly bounces; whenan event which controls the display of the icon is triggered, animationdisplay parameters corresponding to the icon are searched according tothe property and the identifier of the icon, and the icon is controlledto be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with the animationdisplay parameters.

In some embodiments, the properties may include numeral contents. Eachicon may be classified into at least one category, such as category “1”,category “2” and category “3”. Accordingly, each icon will be allocatedwith a category number, such as category “1”. Similarly, each icon maybe classified with other classification rules, such as level andaggressivity. For example, the predefined properties of the icon of aninstalled application “Weibo” (“Weibo” is a Chinese word for“microblog”, which is a social platform application mostly used inChina) could be set as category “1”, level “3” and aggressivity “5”. Asanother example, the predefined properties of the icon of a newly addedapplication “Twitter” could be set as category “1”, level “6” andaggressivity “7”. Setting rules herein may be preset within the terminaldevice, and may be updated periodically.

Further, a manner of controlling the icon to be displayed in theanimated manner may be classified into two types described below. Theicon may include an initial icon and one or more regeneration icons.

1) Property animation: after the application corresponding to the iconis installed, the initial icon of the application will appear on theuser interface, and when the icon is controlled to be displayed in ananimated manner in accordance with animation parameters, the initialicon moves in different directions on a screen at a set frequency. Forexample, the initial icon is controlled to move up, down, left andright, and a visual effect of such movement in a high frequency andsmall distance will show that the initial icon is bouncing. For example,the icon and another icon adjacent to the icon in right or left arecontrolled to move towards each other in opposite directions, and avisual effect of such movement in high frequency and small distance willshow the icons are colliding with each other.

2) Sequence frame: after the application corresponding to the icon isinstalled, the initial icon of the application will appear on aninterface, and the regeneration icons are generated based on a set frameof the initial icon. Taking the icon corresponding to an application of“Messages” as an example, the initial icon is an envelope located in themiddle, and 4 regeneration icons are generated, wherein the 4regeneration envelopes are located at upper left, upper right, lowerright and lower left respectively. When the icon is controlled to bedisplayed in an animated manner in accordance with the animation displayparameters, the initial icon and the regeneration icons are displayed ina set sequence at a set frequency in a display area of the icon, andwhen the frequency is high, the icon will appear to be bouncing.

A flowchart of the method according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure includes the following steps.

In step 101, the method includes monitoring an implementation of anevent which controls a display of the icon.

In step 102, the method includes determining animation displayparameters according to properties of the icon, if the implementation ofthe event which controls the display of the icon is detected.

In step 103, the method includes controlling the icon to be displayed inan animated manner in accordance with the animation display parameters.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, through monitoring theimplementation of the event which controls the display of the icon,animation display parameters are determined according to properties ofthe icon if the implementation of the event which controls the displayof the icon is detected, and the icon is controlled to be displayed inthe animated manner in accordance with the determined animation displayparameters, thereby providing more enriched display effects of the icon,and more specifically, expressivity of the icon as well as interactivitybetween applications and the user are improved.

The second embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method fordisplaying an icon in the terminal device as shown in FIG. 2.

It should be specified that properties of the icon in the embodiment ofthe present disclosure are predefined types of characters, and themethod for displaying the icon is a method for displaying single icon.

A flowchart of the method in the embodiment of the present disclosureincludes the following steps.

Step 201 includes monitoring an implementation of an event whichcontrols a display of the icon.

The event which controls the display of the icon may be the situationsbelow.

Firstly, the event may be an application corresponding to the iconreceives new service notification.

When the application receives the new service notification, anindication may be added on the icon of the application to inform theuser. For example, when the terminal device has missed calls or unreadmessages, the number of the missed calls or the number of the unreadmessages is added on a phone icon or a message icon as an indication toinform the user. At this time, receiving the new service notification bythe application of the terminal device is considered as a triggeringevent that controls the display of the icon.

Further, when the application corresponding to the icon receives newservice notification, it is also required the determination of thecurrent state of the terminal device, so as to decide whether to performthe step of controlling the icon to be displayed. The determinationmethod is provided in step 202.

Secondly, the event could be clicking of the icon by the user.

The terminal device may implement double clicking the icon as startingthe operation of the application, thus, the event which controls thedisplay of the icon may be triggered when the application is clickedonce. Since an action of single clicking the icon and double clickingthe icon are determined by the terminal device, thus it may beconfigured to trigger the event which controls the display of the icon,when the time, counting from the start of the first click, is longerthan a pre-set time taken for double clicking the icon.

Step 202 includes determining whether the terminal device is in anunlocked state and whether a display area containing the icon is locatedin a current display page of the terminal device.

For the situation where the application corresponding to the iconreceives new service notification as shown in step 201, when there is amissed call or an unread short message, the terminal device might be ina locked state, at this time, the user cannot see any icon, so there isno need to control the display effects of the icon. Thus, it is requiredto add a determination step before that properties of the icon aresearched; only when the terminal device is in the unlocked state, andwhere the icon that receives new service notification is located in thecurrent display page, the step of searching of the properties of theicon is performed.

For the situation where the user clicks the icon as shown in step 201,the terminal device must be in the unlocked state during this event,thus a process of performing step 202 is not necessary. At this time,step 204 is performed directly.

In step 203, if the terminal device where the icon is located is in theunlocked state, and the display area of the icon is located in thecurrent display page of the terminal device, then step 204 is performed.

Step 204 includes determining animation display parameters according toproperties of the icon.

The process of determining the animation display parameters in step 204may include the following steps.

In step 2041, the process includes searching the animation displayparameters corresponding to the properties of the icon according topreset nexuses between the properties of the icon and the animationdisplay parameters.

In step 2042, the process further includes determining the animationdisplay parameters according to search results.

In preset nexuses between properties and an identifier of the icon, theproperties of the icon can be searched according to the identifier ofthe icon corresponding to the event which controls the display of theicon.

Taking a phone icon as an example, if the terminal device has a missedcall, then an event, which controls the display of the phone icon, istriggered by an application corresponding to the phone icon. The presetnexuses between properties and an identifier of the phone icon aresearched through the identifier of the phone icon, thereby acquiringthat the property corresponding to the phone icon is “lively”. Taking amessage icon as an example, if the terminal device has an unreadmessage, an event, which controls the display of the message icon, istriggered by an application corresponding to the message icon. Thepreset nexuses between properties and an identifier of the message iconare searched through the identifier of the message icon, therebyacquiring that the property corresponding to the message icon is “calm”.

After acquiring the properties of the icon, the animation displayparameters of the icon corresponding to the properties of the icon aresearched according to preset nexuses between the properties of the iconand the animation display parameters.

Thereafter, the preset nexuses between the properties of the icon andthe animation display parameters are searched through the identifier ofthe phone icon and property of “lively”, animation display parameterscorresponding to the property “lively” are obtained, thus, animationdisplay parameters corresponding to an animation of “quickly bounces”are obtained, wherein the animation display parameters include: movingfrequency of the phone icon is First Frequency; and moving manner of thephone icon is to control the phone icon to move upward a preset distanceand move back to the initial position after reaching the presetdistance.

The preset nexuses between the properties of the icon and the animationdisplay parameters are searched through the identifier of the messageicon and property of “calm”, animation display parameters correspondingto the property of “calm” are obtained, thus, animation displayparameters corresponding to an animation of “slowly bounces” areobtained, wherein the animation display parameters include: movingfrequency of the message icon is Second Frequency; and moving manner ofthe message icon is to control the message icon to move upward a presetdistance and move back to the initial position after reaching the presetdistance, wherein the First Frequency is greater than the SecondFrequency.

Step 205 includes controlling the icon to be displayed in an animatedmanner in accordance with the animation display parameters.

Wherein, a specific manner of displaying the icon may be classified intothe following two types.

2051 includes controlling the icon to move on an interface of anoperating system in accordance with a frequency and a moving directionof the animation display parameters; or 2052 includes acquiring aregeneration icon corresponding to the icon in a preset manner, anddisplaying the icon and the regeneration icon on the interface of theoperating system successively, in accordance with a frequency of theanimation display parameters and a display sequence of the regenerationicon and the icon.

The present embodiment employs the manner of 2051.

At this time, if the terminal device has a missed call, then the phoneicon is displayed in a manner that it “quickly bounces”, which gives theuser a feeling of “hurry come to see me, and open me up immediately”;and if the terminal device receives a new message and the message isunread, then the message icon is displayed in a manner that it “slowlybounces”, which gives the user a feeling of “ah, a new short message,check it if you are not busy”, thereby improving interactivity betweenthe icon and the user, and providing a more intuitive manner to informthe user of a situation of the application corresponding to the icon.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, through monitoring theimplementation of the event which controls the display of the icon,animation display parameters are determined according to properties ofthe icon if the implementation of the event which controls the displayof the icon is detected, and the icon is controlled to be displayed inan animated manner in accordance with the determined animation displayparameters, thereby providing more enriched display effects of the icon,and more specifically, expressivity of the icon as well as interactivitybetween applications and the user are improved.

The third embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method fordisplaying an icon in the terminal device as show in FIG. 3.

It should be explained that properties of the icon in the embodiment ofthe present disclosure include one or more properties of category, leveland aggressivity, and the method for displaying the icon is a method forinteractively displaying a plurality of icons, which includes a firsticon for which an event controls the display of the icon is detected,and a second icon adjacent to the first icon.

Further, some steps of descriptions are the same as those of Embodiment2, which are omitted herein.

A flow of the method in the embodiment of the present disclosureincludes the following steps.

Step 301 includes monitoring an implementation of the event whichcontrols a display of the icon.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the event which controlsthe display of the icon includes: an event of updating a position of thefirst icon to be adjacent to the second icon; or an event of the firsticon appearing on an interface of an operating system for the first timeand being adjacent to the second icon.

The event of updating the position of the first icon may be a case wherethe user performs an operation of changing the position of the firsticon, thus the event which controls the display of the icon is triggeredafter the first icon is dragged to a new position. The event of thefirst icon appearing on the interface of the operation system for thefirst time may be a case where a new application is installed by theuser, and the first icon corresponding to the application is added on aninterface of the terminal device, thus the event which controls thedisplay of the icon is triggered after the first icon is added.

Step 302 includes determining animation display parameters according toproperties of the icon.

Wherein, the process of determining the animation display parametersaccording to the properties of the icon in the step 302 may include thefollowing steps.

Step 3021 includes comparing properties of the first icon withproperties of the second icon.

The second icon adjacent to the first icon may be a preceding iconadjacent to the first icon or a succeeding icon adjacent to the firsticon, or the both. The preceding icon or the succeeding icon adjacent tothe first icon herein may be determined according to identifiers ofposition arrangements of icons on the interface of the terminal device.

Further, when the first icon is located at an edge of the currentinterface of the terminal device, namely, only one icon is adjacent tothe first icon, then only the preceding icon or the succeeding iconadjacent to the first icon is determined as the second icon.

The properties of the first and second icons are searched according topreset nexuses between the properties and identifiers of the icons.

For example, as for a first situation, after the properties of the firstand second icons are searched, it is found that the category property ofthe first icon is set to be “1”, and the level property of the firsticon is set to be “5”. While the category property of the second icon isset to be “1” and the level property of the second icon is set to be“10” in the first situation. As for a second situation, it is found thatthe category property of the first icon is set to be “1” and theaggressivity property of the first icon is set to be “strong”. While thecategory property of the second icon is also set to be “1” and theaggressivity property of the second icon is also set to be “strong” inthe second situation. As for a third situation, it is found that thecategory property of the first icon is set to be “1”, the level propertyof the first icon is set to be “5”, and the aggressivity property of thefirst icon is set to be “strong”. While the category property of thesecond icon is set to be “1”, the level property of the second icon isset to be “10”, and the aggressivity property of the second icon is setto be “strong” in the third situation.

Since the properties of the first icon and the properties of the secondicon respectively contain one or more property values, such as thecategory property value, level property value and aggressivity propertyvalue, the property values of the same type are compared with each otherrespectively, and comparison results of the property values in each typeare determined.

After the properties of the first icon and the properties of the secondicon are compared and the comparison results are determined, the methodproceeds to Step 3022. Step 3022 includes searching for the animationdisplay parameters corresponding to the first icon and the second iconaccording to preset nexuses between icon property comparison results andthe animation display parameters.

Then, the method proceeds to Step 3023 which includes determining theanimation display parameters corresponding to the first icon and thesecond icon according to search results.

Property values of the properties of the first icon are compared withproperty values of the properties of the second icon. Accordingly,comparison results of the property values of the same category may beobtained. The comparison results of the property values of the samecategory may be: the property values of the properties of the first iconare greater than the property values of the corresponding properties ofthe second icon; or the property values of the properties of the firsticon are smaller than the property values of the correspondingproperties of the second icon; or the property values of the propertiesof the first icon are equal to the property values of the correspondingproperties of the second icon. Since the properties of the icons maycontain a variety of properties, a final comparison results may includethe comparison results corresponding to all the properties, andeventually, the animation display parameters corresponding to thecomparison results are respectively searched from the preset nexusesbetween the comparison results and the animation display parametersaccording to the respective comparison results. The icons arerespectively displayed in a certain sequence at the time of finaldisplaying.

Further, the above contents are explained by some examples.

For example, as for the first situation described above, it is foundthat the category property of the first icon is set to be “1”, and thelevel property of the first icon is set to be “5”. While the categoryproperty of the second icon is set to be “1” and the level property ofthe second icon is set to be “10”. In other words, the categoryproperties of the first icon and the second icon are the same, soanimation display parameters of the icons corresponding to thecategories are not further determined according to the result. For theproperties of “level” of the first icon and the second icon, theobtained comparison result is that “the property values of theproperties of the first icon are smaller than the property values of theproperties of the second icon”. From the preset nexuses between thecomparison results and the animation display parameters, the animationdisplay parameters for the first and second icons are obtained based onthe above comparison results. For example, animation display parameterscorresponding to an animation display of “nodding to the icon withhigher property values” are obtained for the first icon. While animationdisplay parameters corresponding to an animation display of “iconheading up” are obtained for the second icon. According to the presentdisclosure, the animation display of “nodding to the icon with higherproperty values” or “icon heading up” may include a variety of optionaldynamic icon forms. Herein the animation display parameters for thefirst icon may be set in the following manners: a generating frequencyof regeneration icons corresponding to the first icon is Third Frequencyand a moving manner of the first icon is to select a sequence number foreach regeneration icons and to control a display sequence of therespective regeneration icons according to the sequence number.Similarly, the animation display parameters for the second icon are setin the following manners: a generating frequency of regeneration iconscorresponding to the second icon is Third Frequency and a moving mannerof the second icon is to select a sequence number of each regenerationicons and to control a display sequence of the respective regenerationicons according to the sequence number.

As for the second situation described above, it is found that thecategory property of the first icon is set to be “1” and theaggressivity property of the first icon is set to be “strong”. While thecategory property of the second icon is also set to be “1” and theaggressivity property of the second icon is also set to be “strong” inthe second situation. Since the category properties of the first iconand the second icon are the same, so animation display parameters of theicons corresponding to the categories are not further determinedaccording to the result. For the properties of aggressivity of the firsticon and the second icon, the obtained comparison result is that “theproperty values of the aggressivity properties of the first icon areequal to the property values of the aggressivity properties of thesecond icon”. From the preset nexuses between the comparison result andthe animation display parameters, the animation display parameters ofthe first and second icons are obtained. For example, animation displayparameters corresponding to an animation display of “colliding withadjacent icons” are obtained for the first and second icons. In anexemplary embodiment, since the first icon is located on the left sideof the second icon, the animation display parameters for the first iconmay be set in the following manners: a moving frequency of the firsticon is Fourth frequency and a moving manner of the first icon is tocontrol the icon to move a preset distance to the right, and move backto the initial position after reaching the preset distance. While theanimation display parameters for the second icon may be set in thefollowing manners: a moving frequency of the second icon is Fourthfrequency; and a moving manner of the second icon is to control the iconto move a preset distance to the left, and move back to the initialposition after reaching the preset distance.

As for the third situation described above, it is found that thecategory property of the first icon is set to be “1”, the level propertyof the first icon is set to be “5”, and the aggressivity property of thefirst icon is set to be “strong”. While the category property of thesecond icon is set to be “1”, the level property of the second icon isset to be “10”, and the aggressivity property of the second icon is setto be “strong” in the third situation. After the property values arecompared, the category properties and the aggressivity properties of thefirst icon and the second icon are the same, but the levels of the firsticon and the second icon are different. Accordingly, animations of theicons corresponding to the categories are not further determinedaccording to the result. For the properties of level of the first iconand the second icon, the obtained comparison result is that “theproperty values of the properties of the first icon are smaller than theproperty values of the properties of the second icon”. From the presetnexuses between the comparison results and the animation displayparameters, the animation display parameters for the first and secondicons are obtained based on the above comparison results. For example,animation display parameters corresponding to an animation display of“nodding to the icon with higher property values” are obtained for thefirst icon. While animation display parameters corresponding to ananimation display of “icon heading up” are obtained for the second icon.According to the present disclosure, the animation display of “noddingto the icon with higher property values” or “icon heading up” mayinclude a variety of optional dynamic icon forms. Herein the animationdisplay parameters for the first icon may be set in the followingmanners: a generating frequency of regeneration icons corresponding tothe first icon is Third Frequency and a moving manner of the first iconis to select a sequence number for each regeneration icons and tocontrol a display sequence of the respective regeneration iconsaccording to the sequence number. Similarly, the animation displayparameters for the second icon are set in the following manners: agenerating frequency of regeneration icons corresponding to the secondicon is Third Frequency and a moving manner of the second icon is toselect a sequence number of each regeneration icons and to control adisplay sequence of the respective regeneration icons according to thesequence number.

Furthermore, in the third situation described above, for the propertiesof aggressivity of the first icon and the second icon, the obtainedcomparison result is that “the property values of the aggressivityproperties of the first icon are equal to the property values of theaggressivity properties of the second icon”. From the preset nexusesbetween the comparison result and the animation display parameters, theanimation display parameters of the first and second icon are obtained.For example, animation display parameters corresponding to an animationdisplay of “colliding with adjacent icons” are obtained for the firstand second icons. In an exemplary embodiment, since the first icon islocated on the left side of the second icon, the animation displayparameters for the first icon may be set in the following manners: amoving frequency of the first icon is Fourth frequency and a movingmanner of the first icon is to control the icon to move a presetdistance to the right, and move back to the initial position afterreaching the preset distance. While the animation display parameters forthe second icon may be set in the following manners: a moving frequencyof the second icon is Fourth frequency; and a moving manner of thesecond icon is to control the icon to move a preset distance to theleft, and move back to the initial position after reaching the presetdistance. In this case, the display order of the two animationscorresponding to the two properties of “level” and “aggressivity” is notlimited.

Step 303 includes controlling the icon to be displayed in an animatedmanner in accordance with the animation display parameters.

Wherein, a specific manner of displaying the icon may be classified intothe following two types.

3031 includes controlling the icon to move on the interface of theoperating system in accordance with a frequency and a moving directionof the animation display parameters.

Alternatively, 3032 includes acquiring a regeneration icon correspondingto the icon in a preset manner, and displaying the icon and theregeneration icon on the interface of the operating system successively,in accordance with a frequency of the animation display parameters and adisplay sequence of the regeneration icon and the icon.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, through monitoring theimplementation of the event which controls the display of the icon,animation display parameters are determined according to properties ofthe icon if the implementation of the event which controls the displayof the icon is detected, and the icon is controlled to be displayed inan animated manner in accordance with the determined animation displayparameters, thereby providing more enriched display effects of the icon,and more specifically, expressivity of the icon as well as interactivitybetween applications and the user are improved.

The forth embodiment of the present disclosure provides an apparatus fordisplaying an icon in the terminal device as shown in FIG. 4. Theapparatus includes: a monitoring module 401 configured to monitor animplementation of an event which controls a display of the icon, and totrigger a determining module 402 to perform an operation when the eventwhich controls the display of the icon is detected; the determiningmodule 402 configured to determine animation display parametersaccording to properties of the icon; and a display module 403 configuredto control the icon to be displayed in an animated manner in accordancewith the animation display parameters.

Wherein, in an embodiment, the event which controls the display of theicon includes an event of receiving new service notification by anapplication corresponding to the icon or an event of clicking the iconby the user.

The monitoring module 401 includes: a monitoring unit 4011 configured tomonitor the implementation of the event which controls the display ofthe icon; a judgment unit 4012 configured to determine whether theterminal device is in an unlocked state and whether a display areacontaining the icon is located in a current display page of the terminaldevice when the event which controls the display of the icon istriggered by the event of receiving new service notification by theapplication corresponding to the icon. The judgment unit 4012 willtransmit an instruction to a triggering unit 4013 when the terminaldevice is in the unlocked state and the display area containing the iconis located in the current display page of the terminal device; and thetriggering unit 4013 configured to trigger the determining module 402 toperform an operation when the event which controls the display of anicon is triggered by the event of clicking the icon by the user, and toreceive the instruction from the judgment unit 4012 so as to trigger thedetermining module 402 to perform an operation.

Wherein, the determining module 402 includes: a first search unit 4021configured to search the animation display parameters corresponding toproperties of the icon according to the preset nexuses between theproperties of the icon and the animation display parameters; and a firstdetermining unit 4022 configured to determine the animation displayparameters according to search results.

Wherein, the icon includes a first icon and a second icon; and the eventwhich controls the display of an icon may include: an event of updatinga position of the first icon to be adjacent to the second icon; or anevent of the first icon appearing on an interface of an operating systemfor the first time and being adjacent to the second icon.

Wherein, the properties include category and level.

Further, the determining module 402 includes: a comparison unit 4023configured to compare properties of the first icon with properties ofthe second icon; a second search unit 4024 configured to search for theanimation display parameters corresponding to the first icon and thesecond icon according to preset nexuses between icon property comparisonresults and the animation display parameters; and a second determiningunit 4025 configured to determine the animation display parameterscorresponding to the first icon and the second icon according to thesearch results.

The display module 403 includes: a first display unit 4031 configured tocontrol the icon to move on an interface of the operating system inaccordance with a frequency and a moving direction of the animationdisplay parameters; and a second display unit 4032 configured to acquirea regeneration icon corresponding to the icon in a preset manner anddisplay the icon and the regeneration icon on an interface of theoperating system successively, in accordance with a frequency of theanimation display parameters and a display sequence of the regenerationicon and the icon.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, through monitoring theimplementation of the event which controls the display of the icon,animation display parameters are determined according to properties ofthe icon if the implementation of the event which controls the displayof the icon is detected, and the icon is controlled to be displayed inan animated manner in accordance with the determined animation displayparameters, thereby providing more enriched display effects of the icon,and more specifically, expressivity of the icon as well as interactivitybetween applications and the user are improved.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, after an event whichcontrols an icon to be displayed is received, properties of the iconcorresponding to triggering the event are queried, animation displayparameters are determined according to queried properties, and the iconis controlled to be displayed in an animated manner in accordance withthe animation display parameters, such that display effects of the iconare enriched, and specifically, expressivity of the icon andinteractivity of applications and the user are improved.

Those skilled in the art may appreciate that all or a part of steps inthe above embodiments may be implemented by a hardware or may beimplemented in a related hardware instructed by instructions stored in anon-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer can alsoinclude the terminal device as defined in the present disclosure.

The non-transitory computer readable storage medium may use, forexample, computer software, hardware, or some combination thereof. For ahardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processingdevices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers,microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform thefunctions described herein, or a selective combination thereof.

For a software implementation, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented with separate software modules, such as procedures andfunctions, each of which perform one or more of the functions andoperations described herein. The software codes can be implemented witha software application written in any suitable programming language andmay be stored in memory of the terminal device.

The aforementioned methods can be implemented in a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium recording computer-readable codes. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium includes all kinds ofrecording devices in which data readable by a computer system arestored. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium includesROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tapes, floppy discs, optical data storagedevices, and the like, as well as carrier-wave type implementations(e.g., transmission via Internet).

The orders of the above embodiments of the present disclosure are onlyused for description, but not for showing the superiority andinferiority of the embodiments.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the whole orparts of the steps in the above embodiments may be implemented byhardware, or by programs instructing the related hardware. The programsmay be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The storage mediumdescribed above may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disc, an opticaldisc or the like.

The above descriptions are only exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure, which are not used to limit the present disclosure. Anyvariations, equivalent substitutions, and modifications made within theintent and principles of the present disclosure shall be encompassed inthe scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for displaying an icon in a terminaldevice, comprising: monitoring an implementation of an event whichcontrols a display of the icon; determining animation display parametersaccording to properties of the icon, if the implementation of the eventwhich controls the display of the icon is detected; and controlling theicon to be displayed in an animated manner in accordance with theanimation display parameters.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the event which controls the display of the icon comprises: anevent of receiving new service notification by an applicationcorresponding to the icon or an event of clicking the icon by a user. 3.The method according to claim 2, wherein if the event which controls thedisplay of the icon is the event of receiving the new servicenotification, the method further comprises: determining whether theterminal device is in an unlocked state and whether a display areacontaining the icon is located in a current display page of the terminaldevice; and if the terminal device is in the unlocked state and thedisplay area containing the icon is located in the current display pageof the terminal device, determining the animation display parameterscorresponding to the icon according to properties of the icon.
 4. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein determining the animation displayparameters according to the properties of the icon comprises: searchingfor the animation display parameters corresponding to the properties ofthe icon according to preset nexuses between the properties of the iconand the animation display parameters; and determining the animationdisplay parameters according to search results.
 5. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the icon comprises a first icon and a second icon;and wherein the event which controls the display of the icon comprises:an event of updating a position of the first icon to be adjacent to thesecond icon; or an event of the first icon appearing on an interface ofan operating system for the first time and being adjacent to the secondicon.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the propertiescomprise category and level.
 7. The method according to claim 5, whereindetermining the animation display parameters according to the propertiesof the icon comprises: comparing properties of the first icon withproperties of the second icon; searching for the animation displayparameters corresponding to the first icon and the second icon accordingto preset nexuses between icon property comparison results and theanimation display parameters; and determining the animation displayparameters corresponding to the first icon and the second icon accordingto the search results.
 8. The method according to claim 1, whereincontrolling the icon to be displayed in the animated manner inaccordance with the animation display parameters comprises: controllingthe icon to move on an interface of an operating system in accordancewith a frequency and a moving direction of the animation displayparameters.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein controlling theicon to be displayed in the animated manner in accordance with theanimation display parameters comprises: generating a regeneration iconcorresponding to the icon in a preset manner; and displaying the iconand the regeneration icon on an interface of an operating systemsuccessively, in accordance with a frequency of the animation displayparameters and a display sequence of the regeneration icon and the icon.10. A terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storinginstructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the following steps: monitoring an implementationof an event which controls a display of the icon; determining animationdisplay parameters according to properties of the icon, if theimplementation of the event which controls the display of the icon isdetected; and controlling the icon to be displayed in an animated mannerin accordance with the animation display parameters.
 11. The terminaldevice according to claim 10, wherein the event which controls thedisplay of the icon comprises: an event of receiving new servicenotification by an application corresponding to the icon or an event ofclicking the icon by a user.
 12. The terminal device according to claim11, wherein if the event which controls the display of the icon is theevent of receiving the new service notification, the processor isfurther configured to execute the following steps: determining whetherthe terminal device is in an unlocked state and whether a display areacontaining the icon is located in a current display page of the terminaldevice; and if the terminal device is in the unlocked state and thedisplay area containing the icon is located in the current display pageof the terminal device, determining the animation display parameterscorresponding to the icon according to properties of the icon.
 13. Theterminal device according to claim 10, wherein determining the animationdisplay parameters according to the properties of the icon comprises:searching for the animation display parameters corresponding to theproperties of the icon according to preset nexuses between theproperties of the icon and the animation display parameters; anddetermining the animation display parameters according to searchresults.
 14. The terminal device according to claim 10, wherein the iconcomprises a first icon and a second icon; and wherein the event whichcontrols the display of the icon comprises: an event of updating aposition of the first icon to be adjacent to the second icon; or anevent of the first icon appearing on a interface of an operating systemfor the first time and being adjacent to the second icon.
 15. Theterminal device according to claim 14, wherein the properties comprisecategory and level.
 16. The terminal device according to claim 14,wherein determining the animation display parameters according to theproperties of the icon comprises: comparing properties of the first iconwith properties of the second icon; searching for the animation displayparameters corresponding to the first icon and the second icon accordingto preset nexuses between icon property comparison results and theanimation display parameters; and determining the animation displayparameters corresponding to the first icon and the second icon accordingto the search results.
 17. The terminal device according to claim 10,wherein controlling the icon to be displayed in the animated manner inaccordance with the animation display parameters comprises: controllingthe icon to move on an interface of an operating system in accordancewith a frequency and a moving direction of the animation displayparameters.
 18. The terminal device according to claim 10, whereincontrolling the icon to be displayed in the animated manner inaccordance with the animation display parameters comprises: generating aregeneration icon corresponding to the icon in a preset manner; anddisplaying the icon and the regeneration icon on an interface of anoperating system successively, in accordance with a frequency of theanimation display parameters and a display sequence of the regenerationicon and the icon.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumhaving stored therein instructions that, when executed by a processor ofa terminal device, causes the device to perform the following steps:monitoring an implementation of an event which controls a display of theicon; determining animation display parameters according to propertiesof the icon, if the implementation of the event which controls thedisplay of the icon is detected; and controlling the icon to bedisplayed in an manner in accordance with the animation displayparameters.